Northwestern Music In January

EVANSTON, Ill. --- Northwestern University will welcome the New Year on the Evanston campus with an intimate six-concert series featuring contemplative chamber works by some of history’s most famous composers. 

Hosted for the 19th annual year by the University’s Henry and Leigh Bienen School of Music, the 2015 Winter Chamber Music Festival guest artists will include the New Orford String Quartet (Jan. 9); Dogma Chamber Orchestra (Jan. 11); Lincoln String Quartet (Jan. 16); violinist Simone Lamsma and guests (Jan. 18); Bienen School faculty and guests (Jan. 23) and the Dover Quartet (Jan. 25).

Other guest artist appearances will include the Jan. 18 concert by loadbang, a New York-based chamber group that combines unique instrumentation with vocal sounds; a Jan. 24 and Jan. 25 music program featuring the combined talents of the Bienen Contemporary/Early Vocal Ensemble and Piffaro, a Philadelphia-based ensemble that specializes in court music from the Middle Ages; and a concert by Croatian guitarist Ana Vidović, which is part of the 2014-15 Segovia Classical Guitar Series.

On Jan. 21, faculty member Victor Goines will perform with his jazz quartet, and a Jan. 24 Kids Fare program for 3-to-8-year olds and their families will focus on chamber music. In addition, on Jan. 15 Thomas Robertello will lead a flute master class and on Jan. 22 the Piffaro ensemble members will present a master class on music from the late Middle Ages.

Other performances include Jan. 29 and Jan. 31 concerts featuring works by Mieczyslaw Weinberg in connection with Lyric Opera’s upcoming presentation of Weinberg’s Holocaust-inspired opera, “The Passenger,” which opens at the Lyric on Feb. 24 in downtown Chicago.

All January programs listed below are open to the public. They take place on the University’s Evanston campus at Pick-Staiger Concert Hall, 50 Arts Circle Drive; Lutkin Hall, 700 University Place; Alice Millar Chapel, 1870 Sheridan Road; and St. James Cathedral, 65 E. Huron St., in Chicago, as noted.

Subscriptions for the 2015 Winter Chamber Music Festival are $125 for the general public and $51 for students with valid IDs and are available at the Bienen School Ticket Office, located in Pick-Staiger Concert Hall, or by calling 847-467-4000.

Concert ticket prices are offered at three levels: the first for the general public and the second for full-time students with IDs. Northwestern faculty and staff with a valid WildCARD receive a 15 percent discount off the general public ticket price.

For more information, contact the Bienen School of Music Concert Management Office at 847-491-5441 or visit www.pickstaiger.org. To order tickets, call 847-467-4000 or visit www.pickstaiger.org.

For series brochures or further information, call 847-491-5441 or email requests to pick-staiger@northwestern.edu. To join the Bienen School’s concerts and events list and receive a monthly events newsletter as well as special discount offers, send your email address to pick-staiger@northwestern.edu. For updates on parking and directions, visit www.pickstaiger.org/construction.

JANUARY 2015

Winter Chamber Music Festival, New Orford String Quartet, 7:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 9, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. The first of six festival concerts will open with Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 11 in F Minor, Gary Kulesha’s String Quartet and Brahms’ String Quartet No. 1 in C Minor. The New Orford String Quartet has garnered two Opus awards for Concert of the Year, and its debut album was nominated for a JUNO award in 2012. The group is comprised of violinists Jonathan Crow and Andrew Wan, violist Eric Nowlin and cellist Brian Manker. Single tickets are $24 for the general public and $10 for students with valid IDs.

Winter Chamber Music Festival, Dogma Chamber Orchestra, 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 11, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. The ensemble’s program includes Foote’s Suite in E Major, Mendelssohn’s String Symphony No. 12 in G Minor and Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings in C Major. This year, the Hamburg, Germany-based Dogma Chamber Orchestra received the Echo Klassik Award for Best Symphonic Recording of the Year for their Shostakovich album. Mikhail Gurewitsch is the 16-member orchestra’s concertmaster and artistic director. Single tickets are $24 for the general public and $10 for students with valid IDs.

Thomas Robertello, Flute Master Class, 4:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 15, Lutkin Hall. A former member of the Pittsburgh Symphony, National Symphony and Cleveland orchestras, Robertello has appeared as guest principal flute with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic and Houston Grand Opera. He has held faculty positions at Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Notre Dame, Roosevelt University and the Cleveland Institute of Music. Admission is free.

Andy Kozar Lecture-Recital, 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 15, Lutkin Hall. Kozar, a New York City-based trumpeter, will present a lecture-recital on performing with electronics. His playing has been praised by the International Trumpet Guild Journal as \"agile as he navigated leaps and slurs with grace...he shifted between lyricism and aggression deftly.\" The San Francisco Classical Voice raves that he \"coaxed the ethereal and the gritty from [his] muted instrument...and revealed a facility for shaping notes and color.\" Kozar has worked closely with composers David Lang, Charles Wuorinen and Helmut Lachenmann. Admission is free.

Winter Chamber Music Festival, Lincoln String Quartet with guest pianist Winston Choi, 7:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 16, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. The Lincoln String Quartet -- a staple of the Chicago music scene since its founding in 1997 -- will perform a range of Beethoven’s works with guest pianist Winston Choi. Comprised of current members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the quartet performs regularly at Chicago area venues, including Symphony Center, the Art Institute of Chicago and Northwestern University, as well as at many private homes throughout the metropolitan area. The ensemble features violinists Lei Hou and Qing Hou, violist Lawrence Neuman and cellist Kenneth Olsen. Their chamber festival program includes Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 3 in D Major, Cello Sonata No. 3 in A Major and String Quartet No. 15 in A Minor. Single tickets are $24 for the general public and $10 for students with valid IDs.

Winter Chamber Music Festival, violinist Simone Lamsma and guest artists, 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 18, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. Lamsma has been hailed by critics around the world for her “distinct voice, maturity, technical brilliance and heartfelt musicianship.” She will be part of an ensemble comprised of Chicago Symphony Orchestra members, including violinist Stephanie Jeong; violists Lawrence Neuman and Yukiko Ogura; cellists Brant Taylor and Kenneth Olsen; and pianist Alessio Bax. Their program features Beethoven’s String Trio in C Minor, Mendelssohn’s Violin Sonata in F Major and Brahms’ String Sextet No. 2 in G Major. Single tickets are $26 for the general public and $10 for students with valid IDs.

loadbang, 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 18, Lutkin Hall. The unique instrumentation of the New York-based chamber group loadbang -- comprised of bass clarinetist Carlos Cordeiro, trumpeter Andy Kozar, baritone vocalist Jeffrey Gavett and trombonist William Lang -- has inspired diverse responses from composers. The ensemble’s stylistic palette ranges from whistled Brazilian rhythms and microtonal jazz standards to deconstructed and decoupled modern sounds. The group has premiered original works and new arrangements by composers Eve Beglarian, David Lang, Andy Akiho and Alexandre Lunsqui. Their program will include Elliot T. Cless’ “Night Chorus,” Taylor Brook’s “Ouaricon Songs: Volume 2,” Jenna Lyle’s “Empies,” Alex Mincek’s “Number May Be Defined” and Joan Arnau Pàmies’ “per ser plagat de ta dolça ferida.” Tickets are $8 for the general public and $5 for students with valid IDs. 

Victor Goines Quartet, 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 21, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. Soprano and tenor saxophonist Victor Goines performs and presents master classes throughout the world with his quartet and quintet and as a member of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and the Wynton Marsalis Septet. His recent compositions include “Crescent City” and a suite in memory of legendary saxophonist Charlie Parker. This performance will feature his new work celebrating civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. Goines will be joined on stage by pianist Jeremy Kahn, bassist Dennis Carroll and drummer Greg Artry. Goines is director of jazz studies at Northwestern. Single tickets are $8 for the general public and $5 for students with valid IDs.

Piffaro, The Renaissance Band, Master Class, 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 22, Lutkin Hall. Founded in 1980, Piffaro specializes in polished recreations of music of the peasantry and court from the late middle ages and the Renaissance. The Philadelphia-based ensemble performs throughout the Americas and Europe, and its members appear as performers and instructors at major early music festivals. In 2011 Piffaro received the Laurette Goldberg Lifetime Achievement Award in Early Music Outreach. The concert is presented in collaboration with the Evelyn Dunbar Early Music Festival. The Evelyn Dunbar Early Music Festival was founded in 1998 through a generous gift of Ruth Dunbar Davee, in memory of her sister Evelyn. Its purpose is to combine informed performance and scholarly inquiry. Admission is free.

Winter Chamber Music Festival, Northwestern’s Bienen School faculty and guest artists, 7:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 23, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. The ensemble will play works by Beethoven, Glinka and Zwilich. Performers include violinists Gerardo Ribeiro and Blair Milton; violist Rami Solomonow; cellists Karen Buranskas and Calum Cook; bassist Andrew Raciti; pianists James Giles and Andrea Swan; clarinetist Steven Cohen; bassoonist Lewis Kirk; and hornist Gail Williams. The program features Beethoven’s Piano Trio No. 1 in E-flat Major and Septet in E-flat Major; Glinka’s “Trio pathétique” in D Minor for clarinet, bassoon and piano; and Zwilich’s Violin Sonata. Single tickets are $22 for the general public and $10 for students with valid IDs.

Kids Fare, Chamber Music Magic, 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 24, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. Young audience members will experience the endless possibilities of combined woodwinds, brass and strings performing in small but mighty chamber groups. Tickets are $6 for the general public and $4 for students with valid IDs and children.

Bienen Contemporary/Early Vocal Ensemble and Piffaro, 6:30 p.m. pre-concert  discussion at Vail Chapel, and 7:30 p.m. concert, Saturday, Jan. 24, at Northwestern’s Alice Millar Chapel,, and 4 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 25 at St. James Cathedral, 65 E. Huron St., Chicago. The internationally acclaimed Renaissance wind band Piffaro brings its exotic menagerie of early instruments for a weeklong campus residency, culminating in a performance of Kile Smith’s 2008 “Vespers,” inspired by music’s transformation during the Lutheran Reformation. In Smith’s virtuosic hour-long celebration, traditional chorale tunes are embellished with postmodern counterpoint as ancient instruments meld organically with contemporary harmonies. Donald Nally will conduct. The concert is presented in collaboration with the Evelyn Dunbar Early Music Festival. Admission is free.

Winter Chamber Music Festival, Dover Quartet, 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 25, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. The festival’s final program will feature the Dover Quartet -- a young American string quartet that is becoming one of the most in-demand ensembles in the world. The group will perform Mozart’s String Quartet No. 20 in D Major; Kaija Saariaho’s “Terra Memoria” and Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 9 in C Major (“Razumovsky”). The quartet won the 2013 Banff International String Quartet Competition. The quartet is comprised of violinists Joel Link and Bryan Lee, violist Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt and cellist Camden Shaw. Single tickets are $26 for the general public and $10 for students with valid IDs.

Christopher Martin, Trumpet Master Class, 6 p.m. Monday, Jan. 26, Lutkin Hall. Martin holds the Adolph Herseth Principal Trumpet Chair of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He was principal trumpet of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and associate principal trumpet of the Philadelphia Orchestra under Wolfgang Sawallisch. Martin received a bachelor’s degree with performer’s certificate from the Eastman School of Music, and he has served on the Bienen faculty. In this master class he will instruct Bienen trumpet students. The event is free and open to the general public.

Northwestern University Chamber Orchestra, 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 29, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. Robert G. Hasty will conduct a program featuring Tchaikovsky’s Suite No. 1 in D Minor and Mieczyslaw Weinberg’s “Rhapsody on Moldavian Themes” and Concerto for Trumpet featuring trumpet soloist Robert Sullivan. The programming of Weinberg’s piece was inspired in part by Lyric Opera of Chicago’s upcoming production of his Holocaust-inspired opera, “The Passenger” (Feb. 24-March 15). Tickets are $6 for the general public and $4 for students with valid IDs.

Symphonic Wind Ensemble, 7:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 30, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. Mallory Thompson will conduct a concert featuring Bienen School faculty percussionist She-e Wu. The program features Bolcom’s “Machine” (Finale from Symphony No. 5), the world premiere of Paul Lansky’s “Touch and Go” concerto for percussion and wind ensemble, and “Allegro moderato,” from Arthur Bird’s Suite in D Major and John Harbison’s “Three City Blocks.” Tickets are $6 for the general public and $4 for students with valid IDs.

Segovia Classical Guitar Series, Ana Vidović, 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 31, Lutkin Hall. Croatian virtuoso Ana Vidović has been praised by the Baltimore Sun for her \"finely honed technique and a remarkable stylistic sensitivity\" that have sent her career to incredible heights early in life. Her competition wins have included New York's Young Concert Artists International Auditions and Rome's Fernando Sor Competition. Boasting a recorded repertoire ranging from Bach violin sonatas to Piazzolla tangos, she continues to captivate audiences across Europe and the United States. Single tickets are $20 for the general public and $10 for students with valid IDs.

Northwestern University Symphony Orchestra, “Friends for Life,” 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 31, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. Victor Yampolsky will conduct a program featuring Weinberg’s Symphony No. 17 (\"Memories\") and Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 6. Programming of the Weinberg work was inspired in part by Lyric Opera of Chicago’s upcoming production of his Holocaust-inspired opera, “The Passenger” (Feb. 24–March 15). Concert tickets are $8 for the general public and $5 for students with IDs.

For more information, call the Concert Management Office at 847-491-5441 or visit www.pickstaiger.org. To order single tickets, call the Pick-Staiger Ticket Office at 847-467-4000 or visit www.pickstaiger.org.